Islamic clerics point out that the signs in the heavens are propitious for such an event.

This year, Muslims will experience solar and lunar eclipses during the holy month. These great heavenly signs, according to Islamic visionary Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Sahib, foretell the coming of the “Mahdi,” the mighty warrior of the Apocalypse, who will defeat the army of Yajuj wa-Majuj (“the infidel unbelievers”), led by the Dabbah or “the Beast.” He will lead the Muslims to great victory and bring forth the Day of Islam, when all of creation falls before the throne of Allah.

Islamic tradition says that the Mahdi will be a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter Fatima. He will have a distinctive forehead, a prominent nose, and a black mole on his face. He will arise from Arabia and will be called from a cave by Allah to serve as the savior of all true believers.

Osama bin Laden has the high forehead, the prominent nose, and the black mole. He hails from Arabia and received his calling from a cave in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden speaks of the president of the United States as Dabbah, the beast he must slay, and of the American people as the Yajuj wa-Majuj, the nation of Gog that he must destroy.

In his edicts and official correspondence, he no longer signs his name as Osama bin Laden but as Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden.

Is Osama the Mahdi?

Many Muslims believe so.

The solar eclipse occurred Oct. 3 and the lunar eclipse will take place Oct. 17. This is a unique phenomenon that only occurred once before – during the Ramadan of 1894. At that time, Muslim scholars said that the next occurrence of twin eclipses will signal the appearance of “the divinely guided one” and the end of human history.

One Muslim, who views bin Laden as the Mahdi, is Sheikh Nasir bin Hamid al Fahd. Al Fahd recently issued a religious ruling or fatwa on behalf of the clerics of Saudi Arabia that granted bin Laden and other terrorists the permission to use nuclear weapons against the United States.

In the fatwa, titled “A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction against Infidels,” al Fahd rules that international law should not be taken into consideration while determining if America should be nuked. Islamic law, he says, overrides all man-made laws.

To the question of whether a nuclear attack would violate the Islamic teaching that “the basic rule in killing is to do it in a good manner,” al Fahd argues that this teaching means that one should only kill in a good manner “when one can.” He goes on to say that it is permissible in certain circumstances to kill women, children, and fellow Muslims for the sake of jihad.

Al Fahd justifies the mass casualties and destruction that would be caused by the American Hiroshima – the al Qaeda plan to detonate seven tactical nuclear weapons in seven major U.S. cities – by arguing that an estimate of the number of Muslims killed by Americans would total “almost 10 million. He writes: “If a bomb killed 10 million of them [Americans] and burned as much of their land as they have burned the lands of Muslims were dropped on them, it would be permissible, with no need to mention any further argument.”

Al Fahd’s fatwa, despite its significance, has not been published – either in portion or in entirety – by any leading American newspaper or news outlet.
Concern about a possible nuclear attack on the U.S. during Ramadan was first raised by the CIA’s interception of a communiqu? of May 30 from Abu Masals al-Zarqawi to Osama bin Laden. In the letter, al Zarqawi speaks of a “great Ramadan offensive” that will create a “fateful confrontation between the United States and Israel.”

Such concern was heightened by the appearance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s second in command, on a taped message that was aired on al-Jazeera Aug. 8. He issued the following warning to the American people: “What you have seen, O Americans, in New York and Washington and the losses you are having in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of the blackouts by your media, are only the initial clashes. … You will experience horrors that will make you forget the horrors you have experienced in Vietnam.”

In addition to the Double Occultation of the sun and the moon, many Muslims see other signs that Allah seeks the destruction of the United States, including the devastation wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.